Well, it’s not ideal for the Gamecocks to start the season 0-2, but it’s the situation they find themselves in after losses to ranked opponents in Tennessee and Florida. The Gamecocks were competitive in each of those games, falling victim to their own miscues late.
To be completely honest, South Carolina could have expected to be here. The Gamecocks were four point underdogs to a Tennessee team that defeated Missouri Saturday in blowout fashion and 3-score underdogs on the road against No. 3 Florida.
Such is life in the SEC, especially in the midst of a pandemic. This year, South Carolina is playing a 10-game, SEC-only schedule. That means no games against Wofford or East Carolina to boost the team’s record. It means that South Carolina will have to be at its best week in and week out to put together a respectable record.
So what happens next? The road certainly gets no easier. The Gamecocks still play four games against ranked opponents, including three currently ranked in the top 13.
The question is a bit more murky this year. When the NCAA announced that the 5-win minimum will be waived when it comes to making a bowl game, it took much of the objectivity out of deciding what is — or isn’t — a successful season. So the first question that must be addressed is “What defines success?”
The answer, for South Carolina at least, remains relatively unchanged after a tough start to the year. There should have been no preseason delusions of grandeur about National or Conference Championships, no “Eight wins of bust” mentality, no must-win situation over top 15 teams.
Instead, the goal at the beginning of the year should have been a .500 record. The Gamecocks will make a bowl if they win half of their games and a realistic path to that goal exists.
It starts next Saturday against Vanderbilt. South Carolina must win against the perennial bottom dweller of the Southeastern Conference, and likely in a way that inspires confidence. The Gamecocks must take care of business next week in Nashville to get in the win column and give the team some momentum moving forward.
From there, the path is a bit less well-defined. South Carolina hosts No. 7 Auburn and while the Tigers look beatable, it would take a near-perfect game, something the Gamecocks do not look likely to put together, at least at the present time.
The four unranked teams on South Carolina’s schedule are the most likely wins. None of Missouri, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss look particularly dangerous, those the Rebels are a bit of a wild card under Lane Kiffin. At this point, those games need to be considered must-wins.
The two likeliest candidates for an upset are LSU, a team that returns only four starters from last year’s National Championship team, and Georgia under Kirby Smart, whom Will Muschamp bested a season ago. Texas A&M has looked vulnerable at times, but the Aggies have never lost to the Gamecocks and it seems unlikely that the first time would come this year, though stranger things have certainly happened in 2020.
For all of that to happen, though, the Gamecocks must first take care of business next Saturday against the Commodores. At a time like this, the old adage of, “One game at a time” is applicable. The media and fans can entertain scenarios of long-term success. For the team, however, the focus is on next week. A win puts them right around the preseason expectation.
